Centre for Development Innovation (CDI) is the interdisciplinary and
internationally focused unit of Wageningen University & Research Centre.
CDI works on processes of innovation and change through facilitating
innovation, brokering knowledge and supporting capacity development. The
proposed Integrated Seed Sector Development (ISSD) Plus Uganda programme is
coordinated by CDI and implemented by Wageningen UR Uganda, the legal entity in
Uganda. The four-year ISSD Plus project to be funded by the Embassy of the
Kingdom of the Netherlands, Kampala. The programme aims to strengthen the
development of a vibrant, pluralistic and market-oriented seed sector that is
able to address key challenges that hamper the seed sector development such as
seed quality assurance and availability of foundation seed.

Job Summary: The
Agribusiness Coordinator will coordinate and supervise technical support that
zonal agribusiness experts provide to out-scaling partners and farmer groups to
become commercially sustainable local seed businesses. The focus is on
developing commercial capacities of the farmers towards becoming professional
seed entrepreneurs. The agribusiness coordinator will coordinate the
out-scaling activities and will also be responsible for coordinating activities
under professionalising existing LSBs (output 2.3). The agribusiness
coordinator will work directly with the zonal agribusiness experts and in close
collaboration with the seed coordinator and experts, EGS coordinator,
partnership coordinator ZARDI staff, District Local Government, (District
Commercial Officer and Community development Officers), local NGOs and other
stakeholders. Additionally, the agribusiness coordinator will facilitate
innovation, broker knowledge and inspire new forms of collaboration between
farmers, BDS providers, public sector, businesses, NGOs and the scientific
community.

Key Duties and
Responsibilities:

Technical Backstopping and Collaboration:

·Offer technical backstopping to a team of zonal
agribusiness experts stationed at ZARDIs in all technical matters related to
agribusiness development as well as the knowledge transfer skills.

·The incumbent will coordinate and supervise the
technical backstopping by the agribusiness experts to LSBs and Out-scaling
partners on market orientation, market research and business planning.

·Coordinate and supervise the support by the
Agribusiness experts to farmer groups in the strengthening of their
organizational capacity; training and coaching on group dynamics and business
organization principles; and creating cohesion, trust and social capital.

·Manage the collaboration between the
agribusiness experts and ZARDI staff (especially the socio-economist), District
Local Governments, (District Commercial Officer and Community development
Officers) and other BDS providers in supporting farmer groups towards becoming
commercially sustainable seed entrepreneurs.

·Oversee and coordinate the access by the farmer
groups to research, extension, market, quality assurance, credit and other
necessary inputs.

·Work closely with the Gender & Youth
Specialist, ensure and coordinate the mainstreaming gender and youth approaches
into the development of Local Seed Businesses.

·Supervise and backstop the activities of the LSB
associations to foster their effectiveness and sustainability.

·Prepare innovative approaches and technical
backstopping on the upgrading of the existing LSBs to significantly advance
their scale of business (output 2.3).

Staff Supervision: Provide technical supervision to the all the
agribusiness experts on the execution of their LSB support including
sanctioning their annual and quarterly work-plans, and all individual activity
schedules and budgets and coordinating timely zonal reporting.

Innovation:

·Take lead in designing, testing and
disseminating new methodologies on improving business management skills of LSBs
and particularly for upgrading existing LSBs.

·Take lead in designing, testing and
disseminating innovations in terms of financial management and marketing for
LSBs

·Manage the development of competitive grant
proposals for any seed production and marketing infrastructure and innovation
projects by the farmer groups.

Work-planning and Reporting:

·Actively facilitate the translation of
intervention strategies into action plans with concrete activities, targets and
timeframes

·Work closely with the seed coordinator, support
the zonal teams to prepare realistic annual and quarterly workplan output 2.2

·Prepare annual work plans and quarterly work
plans on professionalising existing LSBs and report on them quarterly and
annually, in close collaboration with seed coordinator for productivity
enhancement aspects.

·Work in liaison with Seed Coordinator, compile
and submit timely quarterly and annual reports on Local Seed Business
development (Objective 2).

Qualifications, Skills and
Experience:

·The ideal candidate must hold a BSc in
Agriculture plus a relevant post graduate academic qualification in business
administration, agribusiness or agricultural economics, with an orientation
towards participatory agricultural development. An MBA is an added advantage

·A minimum of five years’ work experience in
agri-business in Uganda

·Thorough knowledge on developing marketing
strategy using the 4P concept

·Demonstrated ability to collaborate with
small-scale farmers, and other type of stakeholder groups (across different
levels)

·A strong interest in linking theory with policy
and practice

·Previous experience with supervising staff is an
added advantage

·Excellent English language skills

·Willingness to travel extensively with the country

·Ugandan nationality

How to Apply:

All suitably and qualified and interested candidates should send their
application letters and updated CVs (max. 6 pages) to hr@issduganda.org